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• KUALA LUMPUR: An ethnic Indian leader in Malaysia will face sedition charges after his appeal was dismissed by the high court on Monday.
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P Uttayakumar, the leader of the pro-ethnic Indian group Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), is charged with publishing a letter with seditious content on Hindraf's Police Watch Malaysia website between November 15 and December 8, 2007. The letter from Hindraf was addressed to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The ethnic Indian leader will face sedition charges after judicial commissioner Azman Abdullah dismissed his appeal. After hearing his submissions, the judicial commissioner decided that the sedition case could proceed in the lower court.

Uttayakumar's lawyer had filed a preliminary objection to the charge. On Dec 11, 2007, the sessions court dismissed the preliminary objection, opening the way for an appeal to be filed in the high court.

The charge under the Sedition Act carries a maximum 5,000 ringgit or jail term of three years, or both, on conviction, with five years jail for a subsequent offence